Churchgoers chip in for fire victims

WITH just a few collections at St Josephs Church Tweed Heads, parishioners raised $8437 in cash to send to Victorian bushfire victims.

Saint Vincent de Paul, St Josephs Conference president Graham Murphy said the church decided to add an extra collection for the bushfire victims at each of its services two weeks ago.

He said many of the parishioners would have already donated to the appeal before, but the amount collected showed how generous they all were.

“A lot of people in the parish would have donated before that, but Australians are always most generous if their fellow Aussies are in need,” Mr Murphy said.

“Whether it is due to fire, flood or drought, we put our hand up and help out, which is great.”

He said St Vincent de Paul had encouraged cash donations because that was what was needed at the moment, rather than donations of clothes or furniture.

Mr Murphy used to live in Gippsland and experienced fires in 1965, but the damage they did was nothing compared to the current fires. He said it had shocked everyone at St Josephs.

“This last lot of fires in Victoria, I've never seen anything like that,” he said.

According to St Vincent de Paul, donations will be used to drive an effort to help the long-term recovery of communities affected by the tragedy and to help them rebuild their homes and, eventually, their lives.